Passes & Canyons Blog

Got a new tire--I'm ready to ride.

We leave tomorrow on this year’s OFMC trip and I’ve got a lot to get done. Right now I’m at Joel’s (Mountain Thunder Motorsports) taking care of the single most important thing on my list: getting a new rear tire on my Concours. The used Avon tire Jungle put on it three years ago when I got a puncture in my six-day-old Dunlop is just about shot. Time for another new Dunlop.

Then there’s so much more to be done.

Of course I have to pack, though that will be less of a job than it was for the recent trip with Kevin and Jeff. We camped on that trip but the OFMC does not camp any more. That lightens my load considerably.

All my electronic devices need charging. How many of these do you travel with? Here’s what I carry.

• laptop
• cell phone
• PDA (a Palm–yes, antique, but I don’t have a smart phone)
• digital recorder (good for quickly and easily capturing thoughts and details I might otherwise forget)
• cameras (two)

I also want to get a haircut today. My hair is long enough that on this last trip a strand or two would often get loose in my face in my helmet, flicking with the breeze and tickling my face. And hard to effectively tuck aside.

And these things unrelated to this trip that just need to get done:

• send an invoice to a client for services rendered
• plant some more beans and lettuce in the garden
• take my car to the car wash (I have a coupon for a free cleaning and it’s going to expire)
• water the houseplants

Yep, busy day. But right now, here at Joel’s, I guess I’ll just read this March issue of Rider magazine.

As an aside, here is a useful resource from a biker lawyer on safe driving for motorcyclists.

Biker Quote for Today

You have 1/4-inch chicken strips? Wow, I’m so impressed!

The dirtiest this bike has ever been since I've owned it.

I was out 10 days on this last ride and on almost every single one of them there was at least some dirt to ride. I expected this and that was part of the reason I took the V-Strom.

Now, Kevin has tons of experience on dirt and gravel and Jeff, although he was on a Moto Guzzi Le Mans, “is not allergic to gravel.” Jeff could never be allergic to gravel because he lives up a small side canyon in Idaho where the road goes to gravel long before you get to his driveway and then his driveway itself is much worse gravel than the road. I’m not in a league with either of them, though I hope I’m getting better and it is experiences like this trip that are making me better.

The first time we got off the pavement was when we got a campsite between Alpine Junction and Jackson, up in Wyoming. This was alongside the Snake River in a narrow and steep canyon. It was loose gravel and, as I said, steep, so I was intimidated. But I was also determined and I took it very slowly and carefully and was relieved when we got parked. Then I worried about getting down the next morning.

Getting down, however, turned out to be no problem. Kevin had told me the first time we rode together to keep my hand off the front brake going downhill on loose gravel and I had learned the hard way riding once with Ron Coleman what can happen if you do touch that brake. So I just took things nice and slow while using the rear brake and it was far easier than going up.

Later, after we had been up on the Beartooth, we turned north out of Red Lodge, Montana, headed toward Helena. It was blazing hot so it was no surprise when Jeff, who was in the lead, braked suddenly and turned off down a fishing access road. He has one of these vests that soak up and hold water that evaporates as you ride to keep you cool. He wanted to soak it in the river. Kevin wanted to soak his t-shirt. And being on the V-Strom I just went right along, not the slightest issue at all. It would not have been that way on my Concours. The Connie hates gravel. And there were other pull-offs like this that were too small and numerous to mention.

A couple days later we arrived at Jeff’s so I got to ride up to his house and yes, I had a little apprehension, but made it fine. I also had some apprehension about leaving the next day but that went smoothly, too. I do think I am getting better.

Two days after that Kevin and I were heading back to Colorado and we camped up a side canyon in Utah. The road turned to gravel–no problem–and after we set up camp we wanted to run up the road to see more of this gorgeous canyon and where the road went. Where the road ended in a turnaround loop it was the roughest piece of dirt we encountered the whole trip. This was stuff that threw you around harshly and we also rode through some water and some mud. I’ve been through water before but never mud. So I didn’t know what to expect.

I just hit it with some speed and tried to keep the front straight and rode it through. No big deal. And I got the bike dirtier than it has ever been since I’ve owned it. In fact Kevin’s bike didn’t get anywhere near as dirty as mine did and we’re not quite sure why that was. But I’m a little proud of that mud and haven’t gotten around to washing it off yet.

Riding out of that canyon was our last run off the pavement. Out of my 3,053 miles on this trip it all added up to less than 53 miles but whatever it was it was more miles than the OFMC ever rides off pavement. I like having a chance to ride with other guys as well as with the OFMC. This was a good trip.

Biker Quote for Today

A bike in the dirt is worth two on the pavement.

The only casualty of the fall.

Kevin and I were crossing Idaho on US 20 when I caught a big, juicy bug on my visor directly in front of my right eye. It left me effectively blind in that eye so I pulled over to clean it off.

I got off the bike and set it on the side stand, pulled out my cleaner stuff and sprayed the splotch of bug guts. While I was doing this Kevin pulled in behind me and got off his bike. Apparently he didn’t notice the bit of slope we were on, and as he released his grip on the bike it started to topple away from him. At the same time, it rolled forward just enough to nudge my bike and push it forward off the side stand. His bike crashed to the right and mine went down to the left.

I will forever regret that I didn’t have the presence of mind to pull out my camera and get a shot immediately of these two bikes on the ground and Kevin standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face wondering what the heck just happened. But I was too busy wondering what the heck just happened, and then we both jumped to get them both upright again.

My top bag was open so I could get the cleaning spray out, so all its contents were now scattered on the ground. The spot where I had sprayed my visor now had a patch of dirt and sand where the cleaner had picked it up as the helmet hit the ground. I had some clean-up to do. Yeah, that bug made me pay for snuffing its life.

The only damage was the left turn signal (in the picture above), which was busted. I’d call that a design flaw in the V-Strom. If the bike falls over one or the other of those is almost guaranteed to break. Kevin, who used to rent V-Stroms out of Gunnison, said it’s a $90 part and his customers were forever breaking them.

So he replaced them on all his bikes with a flush-mount set of signals that he said cost $15. His didn’t break. And he’s pretty sure he still has at least one of them that he took off one of his bikes, so replacement should be easy.

Just another day on the bike.

Biker Quote for Today

90% of my paycheck goes towards dirt bikes (the rest is just wasted).

Through the hills of Utah.

Jeff rode with us from his house outside Boise into town and then we parted ways, with Kevin and me jumping on I-90 briefly just as far as Mountain Home. Then we got off onto US 20 to cross Idaho running roughly parallel to the interstate south of us. It was a great decision because the first half or so went through hilly country that was pretty and fun. The second half was pretty much straight and boring and hot. Just like the interstate would have been all the way.

Past Arco we turned south through Blackfoot and worked our way down into the Pocatello area and beyond. We got off on US 30 and continued east through Lava Hot Springs. This little town of maybe 800 people was boasting a current population probably around 5,000 as the 4th of July weekend got going and people jammed into every parking and camping spot they could find to enjoy the tubing in the creek and the water park features that have made this town a destination.

Up over the ridge and down and we stopped for a break at the old schoolhouse that the OFMC stayed at on a trip in this area in 2009. Great place for a large group. We were both fried and ready to stop but no likely camping spot was presenting itself. I ventured that I would not be opposed to a motel in Soda Springs and Kevin wasn’t either, so we did.

Morning came and it was July 4 and this little town was abustle with preparations for the parade. So much so that there was no place to get breakfast. The grocery store worked. We headed on south through Cokeville to Evanston, Wyoming, and down into Utah over Bald Mountain Pass. That stretch over the pass was some of the best scenery of the trip but the swarms of people were incredible. Quite a bit different than the last time I went that way.

At Kamas we picked up food for dinner and rode east again on Utah 35 over Wolf Creek Summit and our maps showed that at the east base of the summit there was a small road that went up a canyon with campgrounds. The first campground was full so we continued. The road turned to gravel but hey, we were on V-Stroms, so it totally didn’t matter.

We found a site at the second campground and set up, then cruised on up the road further to see where it went. This canyon was incredibly beautiful. The road doesn’t go anywhere or else it would get a lot more traffic than it does. We passed the third campground and splashed on through mud and water and hit some road terrain before the now miserable road gave way to a two-track that went who knows where. We didn’t explore.

This was to be our last night out together and Kevin wanted to get all the way back to Gunnison, so the plan was to get up early and go. At about 5 a.m. it was starting to get light and we both heard rain start pattering lightly on our tents. Guess we’ll sleep a little later and hope it stops. By 6 a.m. it had and we were up, made coffee, ate granola bars and we rolling before 7. There was no recourse but to roll up the tents wet.

The morning was cool and wet and I was glad to have my electric vest. Leading, I took it fairly easy on the highway because I was sure we’d be encountering critters. We actually came across a heck of a lot of open range cattle but did also have opportunity to slow way down for the deer on the road. We hit US 40 at Duchesne and blasted. At Dinosaur, finally back in Colorado, we turned south to Rangely. At Rangely Kevin turned south and I continued toward Meeker. A wave and our ride together was over, though I was still far from home.

We had already come a long way that morning so I was looking forward to a stop in Meeker. I was also keeping an eye on the sky, and so far it was OK. At Meeker, though, I could see that going south toward Rifle I was going to get wet so when I was ready to roll again I was all geared up.

It was only noon or so but it was already a long day so over on I-70 I intended to make a stop in Eagle but by New Castle I had to stop. I was really fried now. I went in a cafe and got a hot bowl of soup and a bunch of crackers, ate it all, and just sat there fatigued for about an hour. Finally ready I rode on to Eagle.

Willie and Jungle live in Eagle and they welcomed me and asked if I’d be spending the night. It was now Sunday on the 4th of July weekend and anyone who lives around here knows what that means about I-70 coming into Denver. Four hours to go 80 miles is typical. I was counting on Willie’s invitation and I accepted it.

Accustomed by now to waking with the sun, I woke this morning at 5 to find I had a killer headache and my stomach was all messed up. I took some drugs but lay there with frequent waves of nausea washing over me and wondered if I would get home today or not. I fell back asleep and woke up feeling perfectly fine. I have no idea what it was but it was gone.

The run from Eagle to Denver was a cat and mouse game with the rain the whole way. I never suited up entirely but when I reached Silverthorne the rain had just passed through and the road was very wet. Tires were throwing up water that was soaking me so I did put on the rain jacket. Although I never saw a single raindrop, we did reach a place where a cloud had come down to earth and riding through it there were just water droplets suspended in the air. My bike and jacket and boots were soaking. Surprisingly, my jeans stayed pretty dry thanks to the deflection from the V-Strom’s body work.

And then I was finally home. This trip was a total of 3,053 miles in 10 days. That’s a lot of riding. And now I need to start getting ready for this year’s OFMC trip. We’re leaving on July 17. Poor, poor me.

Biker Quote for Today

Ride fast, take chances.

Through Idaho along the Salmon River.

We rode the Beartooth. Kevin and Jeff were appropriately impressed. Spent the night in Cooke City so we could go up early in the morning, which is always a good plan. And that brought us down to Red Lodge with plenty of day left.

We headed out of town going north and then west. And there is extreme heat all over the west. I’m really enjoying on this trip that I’m on my V-Strom because these guys go off the pavement numerous times each day. On this particular one we were blasting along and Jeff suddenly hit his brakes, signaled a left turn, and we turned down a fishing access gravel road to soak t-shirts and cooling vests. That sort of thing does not happen with the OFMC.

We reached I-90 and needed to blast west about 70 miles on it so blast we did to get it over with. Then it was north again before connecting with a state road going west. Down a river valley and we came to Townsend, Montana. There’s a big lake here with numerous campgrounds around it but none well marked. We camped in a free campground with minimal amenities but at least we did have trains. All night long. Blowing their horns to let you know they were there.

Come morning we cruised into Helena and hit some shops to find things that had been lost. Then up and over a good sized hill and took another northward state highway to avoid doing 70 miles of interstate to Missoula.

Lunch in Missoula and then it was on up over Lolo Pass. I had last been up that pass, to Lolo hot springs, back in 1977 or 1978. The hot springs were natural and no one else was there. Now it’s a business. Sad but no surprise.

Going over the top of Lolo, however, we were all tickled to see a sign that read “Winding road next 99 miles.” We cruised down along the Lochsa River for that many miles, although not all at once. About 70 miles down we turned up the Selway River and found another nice, free campground. And this one did not have a train.

In the morning we went back to the Lochsa and on the rest of the 99 miles and then rode a lot of hours more on various winding roads down river valleys. This is Idaho and Idaho has a plentiful supply of motorcycle roads.

Jeff lives outside Boise so we made it on to his house, which is why I have wi-fi again, and tomorrow we’ll part company with him. But Kevin and I still have two days plus to get back to our homes in Colorado. So this ride is not over.

Biker Quote for Today

A touring bike is whatever you have in the garage when you want to go somewhere.

Kevin coming down into the Flaming Gorge area.

I left to go on a motorcycle trip with Kevin very suddenly. Kevin has a way of calling and making me offers I can’t refuse. One time he called out of the blue and asked, “Do you want to buy a V-Strom?” So I did.

Last week Kevin called and told me he was meeting a friend from Boise at the Flaming Gorge and they were just going somewhere north. Would I like to join them? Well here I am in Cooke City, Montana, so you guess what my answer was.

The whole idea just thrilled me. It would be just like the early days of the OFMC: three guys, no plans, frequent camping. I have missed those trips for as long as it has been that we’ve had way too many guys on the OFMC trip to be able to just roll into some small town and expect to find enough motel rooms.

I rode to Grand Junction on Friday to spend the night at my brother’s, and then Kevin and I met up at the City Market in Fruita on Saturday morning. We rode on up over Douglas Pass, caught US 40 west at Dinosaur, turned north at Vernal, Utah, and cruised to the Flaming Gorge.

Kevin and I are both on our 650 V-Stroms and Jeff showed up later on his Moto Guzzi Le Mans. It was old home week for those guys, having known each other for 40 years, and I soon found myself looking closely for opportunities to get a word in myself.

Up the next morning and we came up with a general idea of heading to the Beartooth Pass. Planning beyond today was forbidden but as a general goal that’s a starting point. We’ll head in that direction. We cruised north into Wyoming, crossed over into Idaho, and ran up some roads none of us had ever been on. Heading back into Wyoming, to the Star Valley, there was the sweetest campground on this pass and we were all tempted. But we didn’t have any food so we needed to press on, even if we came back.

We reached a store and got food and beverages but decided to push on past Alpine Junction to some campgrounds the map showed along the Snake River. We ended up high up the canyon wall on a road of loose gravel that our V-Stroms are made for. As for Jeff’s Guzzi, as Kevin told me early on, “he’s not allergic to gravel.” He’s actually a heck of a lot better on gravel than I am.

So that made it Monday. We cruised on up to Estes Park, passed through Grand Teton and on into Yellowstone. We weren’t really there to see the park but both of those guys had to pay $25 to get in so we might as well do some touristing. (Of course, my senior pass got me in free. Jeff now has something to look forward to when he turns 62 next year.)

We exited the northeast entrance to the to Silver Gate and Cooke City and found a sign telling us that none of the campgrounds in the area allowed tent camping. The girl at the store in Cooke City told us someone got messed up by a bear several years ago and they still haven’t gotten past that. So it was time for a motel. Which is why I now have wi-fi.

Tomorrow we ride the Beartooth. From there the plan is to go north heading toward Missoula and Lolo Pass. We don’t know how long it will take us to get there or where we’ll be staying, but it’s a direction. The OFMC used to be like this. Now I get to be here and in another three weeks after I get home I’ll go out with the OFMC boys on that trip. The summer is shaping up very nicely.

Biker Quote for Today

Adventure is what happens when you thought you were going to have a good time.

Riding the rim road at Crater Lake at sunset.

Judy and I recently took a road trip that carried us to 10 national park system units, as they’re called. That is, these were national parks, national monuments, and a few others that go by “national historic site” and such. Growing up, my family would load up the car each year and take trips to national parks all over the country. On top of that, I just ended two and one-half years working at the National Park Service. They’re really in my blood, and Judy loves them, too.

There’s a saying that makes total sense here: They don’t put national parks in ugly places. So it’s no surprise that there are a lot of parks that are terrific for motorcycling. Here are some we visited on this trip.

We started out at Dinosaur National Monument, which we had also been to last year. Last year we did the middle section of the park and that was good for dual-sport bikes. This year we went to the west end. Not too much riding over there. Just some dinosaur bones to look at mainly.

Our next stop was Golden Spike National Historic Site. This is where they put in the golden spike connecting the transcontinental railroad. Very cool trains there but no riding.

On to City of Rocks National Reserve in Idaho, which is a very cool place. If you are on a dirt bike or dual-sport this would be a good place to go; the roads are not paved. We did see a couple people on dirt bikes.

Next was Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument. Unfortunately there was little to see or do here because the research center/visitor center called for in the establishing legislation has never been funded.

And by the way, as an aside: if you have ever wondered why some places are national parks and some are national monuments, and some change from one to the other (Black Canyon of the Gunnison), here’s the very simple explanation. National parks are created by congressional legislation. National monuments are created by the president under the authority given under the Antiquities Act of 1906. In the case of the Black Canyon, some president declared it a monument and later Congress decided to make it a park. Now you know.

After Hagerman our next park was John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. As with several of these parks, the only reason I even knew they existed was because I edited their planning documents, primarily their foundation documents. In the JODA foundation (I’ll explain in a moment) there was discussion about the issue of the unwelcome noise created by lots of motorcycles. I took the liberty of rewording that text to make it clear that the issue was loud motorcycles as well as loud trucks or any other loud vehicles.

Anyway, that discussion in the foundation should be the tip-off: there are some terrific roads in John Day. A good bit of the park is centered on a couple steep canyons and we all know that steep canyons mean beautiful, twisty roads. And the bikers in Oregon know it. There were plenty of them. You owe it to yourself to check it out sometime if you’re up there.

And JODA? Another bit of inside information. National Park Service short-hand for the various park units is to take the first two letters of the first two words of the name. Thus, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is JODA. Dinosaur National Monument is DINO, because they do not include the “national whatever” portion.

Then came Crater Lake. (That’s CRLA, you know.) However, long before we got to Crater Lake we were in the mountains of Oregon and there was nothing but great motorcycle roads. Western Oregon is just pretty dang beautiful.

As for Crater Lake, we actually came into the park on the longest, straightest road I’ve ever seen outside of crossing the Bonneville Salt Flats. But when you get up to the rim there is a road encircling the lake that is in the caldera of this volcano that blew its top long ago. This road is so twisty and narrow, with no shoulder and in most instances a pretty serious drop-off, such that we who are accustomed to mountain driving still found it a bit intimidating. Of course on a motorcycle it would we wonderful, as long as you look out for the terrified flatlanders hugging the center of the road and don’t try to look at the lake while you’re moving.

Going down from the rim and out the other side the roads are more interesting and twisty, the way you would expect coming off a mountain.

Not too far from Crater Lake is Oregon Caves National Monument and the only way to get there is to get off the main highway at Cave Junction and take a narrow, winding 19-mile road up the hill. Need I say more?

Heading south in to California we came to Lassen Volcano National Park. This place was a treat. There is a road that goes through the park and it takes you to most of the best places in the park. Climbing to great views, interesting stops. I definitely recommend Lassen (LAVO).

We blasted across Nevada and spent a night in Ely–you can’t beat the Hotel Nevada. Next morning it was on just a short distance to Great Basin National Park. They are two draws to Great Basin. The first is Lehman Caves, which is what initial land was set aside for and the name it used for many years. Then they expanded it to become what it is today. The second is the drive up 13,063-foot Wheeler Peak. Yeah, you guessed it, you’re going up a mountain. It’s a twisty narrow road with great views.

Our 10th and last park was Arches National Park. This is another of those that used to be a monument but was made into a park. I don’t know that there’s much advantage to seeing Arches on a bike versus a car, it’s the arches that are of interest and in almost every case you have to get out of the car or off the bike to go see them.

Then we headed home. So to sum it up, there are great motorcycle roads in six of these parks: DINO, JODA, CRLA, ORCA, LAVO, and GRBA. Get out there and do some riding!

Biker Quote for Today

I enjoy going on motorcycle trips and stopping in small towns and enjoying drinks with the locals. — George Clooney

We met the fellow on this penny and nickel Harley in Oregon.

Everyone who travels on their motorcycle knows you inevitably end up striking up conversations with other bikers along the way, and people not on bikes also talk to you. It works the other way as well. When you ride, but you’re not on your bike just now, you still end up speaking with other riders. At least I do.

This was demonstrated time and again on this recent car trip to Oregon that Judy and I just did.

I’ve already mentioned Sharon, who we met at Crater Lake in Oregon. And we saw her again in Loveland at the Steel Horse Sisterhood event. I have also already mentioned the three young guys who were riding Sportsters from Green Bay out on old Route 66, to San Francisco, to Las Vegas, and were headed home.

There were others.

For instance, we were stopped at the visitor center for John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and there was a singular Harley parked there. That’s it in the photo above. This guy has done up the entire bike in pennies and nickels.

I spoke with him about the bike and he said he wanted something unique. He wanted something no one else had ever done. So he repainted the entire body portions of the bike either a silver or copper color and then coated them with epoxy. Next he epoxyed the coin and stuck them onto the body parts. Then he put a couple more coats of epoxy over it all for good measure.

This is definitely a unique bike. He also made note that every time he rides it at least a few of the coins fall off so he is constantly putting more on to fill the gaps. Anyone ever seen something like that before?

Then there was Bruno from Belgium.

We were heading east out of Nevada and stopped for the night at a motel in Salina, Utah. The motel offered a light breakfast in the morning so we were hanging out around the office eating fruit, yogurt, rolls and coffee. I very thin young guy came walking up barefoot and while I was refilling my coffee he struck up a conversation with Judy. I came back and joined the conversation and it turned out he had ridden in on a BMW. He was from Belgium and was seeing the western U.S.

We talked about where he had been and where he intended to go, we gave him some suggestions from our own experience, and I pointed him to this website because he was heading to Colorado soon. We also told him if he needed a place to stay when he got to Denver we’d be happy to have him.

What was especially interesting about what he was doing was how he came to be on this BMW. Bruno is living at this time in Hong Kong. He has a friend who was riding his BMW all over the U.S. and had left the bike in Austin, Texas, to come to Hong Kong–not sure why. Anyway, Bruno has a little 250cc bike he rides around Hong Kong. He told his friend he could use the 250 around Hong Kong and in exchange he would fly into Austin and pick up the BMW and ride around the U.S. Then he’ll just leave the beemer wherever he ends up when he needs to go back to Hong Kong and the friend can fly back to that spot and resume his own travels.

We met others on bikes but these four were the most interesting encounters. You do meet the nicest people on motorcycles.

Biker Quote for Today

Why are motorcycle dealers closed on Sunday? Because Sunday is for worship . . . Catholics go to church, motorcyclists go ride.